Evanston City Council on Tuesday night postponed deciding if a Subway restaurant can open on Howard Street and will likely vote on the issue at its next meeting on April 22.
The Subway, if allowed to open, will be at 327 Howard St. The Planning and Development Committee voted 5-0 on March 25 in favor of the Subway, but a high crime rate at the building may hamper the plan for the new restaurant.
Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) voted to open the Subway, but he said he is not an advocate either way.
However, Ald. Ann Rainey (8th), who is not on the Planning and Development Committee, said earlier this year that she does not want the Subway to open because of the high crime rate on the 300 block of Howard Street.
In the past four years, more than 300 calls have been made to eight addresses on the north side of that block of Howard Street, according to a memo from Mike Perlman, crime analyst of Evanston Police Department, written to Police Chief Frank Kaminski on March 19.
Rainey said she wants the landlord to clean up his property before the Subway would be allowed to open. But it is not clear who is at fault for the volume of police calls.
All of the buildings at the eight addresses on the block are managed by Alan Weissman, who said he is not to blame for the police calls. He said many of the calls are a result of disputes at the cab stand in front of the El stop on Howard Street, which is something he said he cannot control.
He said he evicted one tenant last summer for not paying rent. The tenant, Warren Pitts, owned Evanston Communication, which was located at 327 Howard St., the potential site of the Subway. Weissman said he also suspected Pitts of being involved in illegal activities.
“I had a feeling – it’s not an accusation – that (Pitts) was involved in illegal activities,” Weissman said.
Pitts, who moved his business to 609 Howard St. and renamed it Evanston Wireless, said Weissman’s allegations are unfounded. Pitts said he has never been convicted of a crime.
Pitts, whose business had been located at 327 Howard St. for 15 years, said he was not evicted and instead chose to move. Before he moved, Pitts said his store was closed because he owed $31,620 in back taxes from the 1992-93 tax year. He said he paid the money he owed and when he tried to reopen the store he was informed Weissman would not let him stay at that location.
While Pitts was fixing his tax problem, another cellular store, Robby’s Communications, moved near his store at 333 Howard St.
Tabitha Turner, a former employee of Pitts who now works for Robby’s Communications, said she was not aware that anything illegal was occurring at Pitts’ cellular phone business.
In order to prevent crime, Nizarali Ladhani, the would-be owner of the Subway, and Weissman have agreed to meet with the police on a quarterly basis. Cmdr. Michael Perry of EPD said it has not been determined what these meetings will entail. Foot patrol police might inspect the shop, Perry said.
Weissman said he feels the new Subway will lead to a decrease in crime.
“(Subway is) going to keep crime off the streets,” Weissman said.
